Birthday Blessings . . .

...

Today is Sister #2's thirteenth birthday! My goodness... I cannot believe how quickly the years have gone by. I remember the days of climbing trees, playing in the water hose, dressing up, "spying" on Dad while he would mow the lawn, taking trips to the park, jumping on the trampoline, doing flips all over the couch... along with all the other fun things we did when we were girls--as if it were only yesterday! Where has the time gone?

...

............................................

I'm so thankful for all the memories we've made together,

and I'm even more thankful that you are my sister.

I love you very much, Sis! And I hope you have a

wonderful 13th birthday. You truly do deserve it. :)

"The blessing of the Lord be upon you."

.................. Psalm 129:8 .................

A Very Happy Fourth of July...

...

Last night my grandparents took my sisters and I to

see the fireworks show in town. It was really neat!

...

...

I decided ahead of time to take my camera along and give its

"fireworks" setting a try. ;) I was so surprised at how well the

pictures turned out! I took a whole bunch of photos, but the

two above are my most favorites. :)

...

Anyway, the best news is that I got to visit my Mom & Dad at the hospital today, and I had such a nice time! (It definitely made for a very happy fourth of July. ;) I was really glad to see Dad happy and talking better, and I noticed a big difference in his ability to understand things and speak with words that made sense. We're hoping he can come home soon, but he may need to have a plasmapheresis treatment (which will help take the swelling in his brain back down) before he can leave the hospital. If so, it will be at least another 10 days before they can leave. Either way, we know He's in the Lord's care and God is in control of just how long he's stays. :)

Well, I hope you all have been enjoying a very blessed Fourth of July.... I know I have! =)

Remember to be thankful for the freedom we share in our country, and to pray for those who continue fighting for that freedom. But more importantly, let's praise God for the freedom we share in Jesus Christ!

"For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God."

Romans 8:20, 21

Praise the Lord all the earth!

Dear Lord,

Dad had the biopsy early this morning and all went very well! Mom said he's awake now and when she walked in the room for the first time, he said, "There's my Mama!" (He always calls her Mama or Mommy, because we do.) She also said he's happy and talking a lot too.

Praise the Lord for watching over Dad, and for guiding the hands of the neurosurgeon! It is one of the BIGGEST reliefs to have that biopsy out of the way now! Oh, I AM SO HAPPY!! :D

... Just had to get that out of my system. ;)

Now, there are still going to be lots of big decisions to make soon. And we have to continue to pray that the biopsy did not cause any permanent damage or side-affects. We know God has all those things under control and we continue to trust everything to Him. For now, we'll just wait patiently on the Lord and keep praising Him no matter the situation. To God be the glory forever!

...

"Praise be to you, O LORD,

God of our father Israel,

from everlasting to everlasting.

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness

and the power

and the glory and the

majesty and the splendor,

for everything in heaven and

earth is yours.

Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;

you are exalted as head over all.

Wealth and honor come from you;

You are the ruler of all things.

In your hands are strength and power

to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks,

and praise your glorious name!"

1 Chronicles 29:11

...

I hope you are all enjoying your Friday!

God bless!

Photo: Courtesy of Google Images;

Edited by Sis #1 and Me. :)

Great is the Name of the Lord

"For the LORD is the great God,

the great King above all gods."

PSALM 95:3

Well, Dad is back in the hospital again. He had to be taken by ambulance Monday afternoon because he was non-responsive and couldn't move when Mom tried to wake him up. His left eye wouldn't open either. He's already had a CT scan which showed that there is a whole lot more swelling and shifting of the brain than there was when he was there two weeks ago. The doctors are wanting to do a biopsy soon, so we can hopefully figure out what this is we're dealing with. Mom just told me that they're hoping to get it done either tomorrow or the next day. We're really praying for the biopsy to go extremely well and for the Lord's will to be accomplished through it. We're also praying for the swelling and ALL of his symptoms to go away very soon.

Anyway, I thought I would give you all a quick update on what's been going on. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and encouragement. It really means a lot to our family! :) We know we serve a great God, and He holds us in the palm of His hand. His timing is perfect and we trust in Him completely for all things. ...We know His purpose will stand!

"No one is like you, O LORD;

you are great,

and your name is mighty in power."

Jeremiah 10:6

PRAISE THE LORD ALL THE EARTH! :)

Picture above: Dad sitting on the couch arm "ponderin'"! ;)

TO:

Daddy

FROM:

Me :)

-----------------------------

Okay, I know Father's Day was almost a week ago...

but I just couldn't resist posting this picture!

Unfortunately, Dad is still having trouble with being confused and not always understanding what we say. He's also having a hard time communicating with the right words. So... whenever we try to tell him something and he starts getting frustrated because he doesn't understand, we just say,

"I love you!"

And he smiles and says, "I love you."

-------------------------------

Daddy, I can't wait for you to get better. I know you like to take a peek at my blog every now and then, so I'm leaving this here as a surprise for when you are well and come back!

These past few weeks have been tough, and I realize at this point it's not yet over. But I am confident that God will restore you to good health soon. I know He has a purpose and a plan that is being carried out, and we all trust that His will is going to be accomplished. And I pray when that time comes we will all be mature and complete, lacking nothing. Until then... "Press on!" :)

I love you.

And I ALWAYS will.

_____________

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive a crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."

James 1:2-4, 12

Dear Daddy,

And thank you for all that you do! I'm SO thankful to have such an amazing daddy like YOU. I hope that you have a wonderful day filled with many blessings from the Lord! I love you so very, very much!! :)

Love Always,

♥ Taylor

"The LORD is my strength and my song;

he has become my salvation.

He is my God, and I will praise him,

my father's God, and I will exalt him."

Happy Birthday, to My Best Friend :)

I couldn't let the day pass without wishing my dear Mommy a happy, happy birthday! She is such a special person to me and she truly is my best friend. I don't know what I'd do without her! :)

---------------------------------------

Thank you, Mommy, for all that you do.

You do such a wonderful job at taking care of us girls,

and Daddy too.

I am so grateful to have a loving, godly mother like you.

I love you so very much.

Happy Birthday!

~Love you, Taylor

---------------------------------------

My Mom at a birthday party when she was a little girl.

(Pictured front right, with the black socks!)

"This is the day that the Lord has made;

Let us rejoice and be glad in it!"

Psalm 118:24

Blessed Be the Name of the Lord

Hi everyone!

Yes, today marks the end of our one-month fast from electronics... and I have a lot to share. :)

Unfortunately, my dad ended up in the hospital again. For quite a few weeks he had been having some trouble with high blood pressure and extreme fatigue. Other than that, he seemed to be doing pretty well health-wise. Then, last Saturday (June 5) I woke up at 7:00am to my alarm going off. I quickly silenced it and rolled back over to catch some more sleep. Surprisingly, Sister #1 woke up soon after that and left to help Mom with breakfast and making orange juice for everyone. (She's usually the one who sleeps in late!) Next thing I know, it's 8:00am and she comes running in the room saying, "Tay wake up! We need to pray for Daddy; I think something's wrong." I shot right up and asked what was going on. She said, "I don't know. But Mom went in her bedroom to get Daddy up and she never came back. So I went in their room and saw her sitting next to Dad who was lying on the bed. His eyes were just wandering around the room. I sat down next to them and she told me that I needed to leave. I left and shut the door, but stayed close by listening. She was repeating his name over and over but he never would respond. Then she called "___" (who is a nurse) and asked if she needed to call 9-1-1." So, we both prayed and then ran to the kitchen. I won't go into all the details of what took place after that. But Mom did call 9-1-1 and the ambulance eventually arrived. The paramedics came inside, placed Dad on the stretcher, and then my sisters and I watched as they wheeled him out the door and down the ramp with our Mom following closely behind. As she went out the door we were all in tears and as her own tears began rolling down her face she said, "Just pray, okay? Just pray. I love you."

Long story short, after six long days passed... I am happy to report that Mom and Dad are now back home! They got here this afternoon and we are so happy to have them with us again. Our Nana took my sisters and I to see them in the hospital the day after they left, but it wasn't an easy visit. Daddy was lying in the hospital bed confused and unable to communicate with words that made sense. He didn't really acknowledge us or know who we were, and he was suffering from a bad headache. After a couple of hours we left. Needless to say, he still has not completely recovered but he is much, much better! Yesterday Mom called to tell us that Dad was asking about "the girls" and that he wanted to come home. He isn't as confused anymore and he usually makes sense when he talks. :)

As far as the results found on the MRI's go, he now has one very large lesion covering a lot of the left hemisphere of his brain and some other smaller lesions scattered in different places. The doctors are all pushing to do a biopsy on that larger lesion so they can hopefully finally determine a firm diagnosis for him, because they've never been able to give us one. Some of them say they're 100% sure he has MS, but others still aren't willing to rule out lymphoma. We're praying and seeking God's will on what to do about that. We know we still want to follow the diet therapy that we're on, but we're specifically praying for the Lord to show us what to do as far as a decision about the biopsy goes. We know it's all in His hands and we're trusting Him to lead, guide, and direct us--as we know He has been and will continue to do.

~

Now, I'd also like to tell you all how glad I am to be back in Bloggerland. :) I have to admit that I enjoyed the break quite a bit. It was nice to be able to take my focus away from so many electronics for so long. But I also enjoy hearing from each of you and getting to keep up with your posts as well. =) I do want to keep my time on the computer limited, though. (Just to warn you! :D) A lot of times I find myself feeling "obligated" to post something, but I'd really like to make blogging more of a special thing I get to do every now and then--instead of having it be a regular part of my life! I hope you all understand. Right now especially, though, I feel like it is important for me to concentrate my time on my family. (Don't worry I'm not saying that I'm leaving. Just that I'll be blogging in moderation. ;)

SoOoOo...

Anyway, I hope and pray that all of you are doing well (and that I didn't overwhelm you with too many details about my dad! I'm a very detail-oriented kind of person and it's hard for me to leave stuff out. Lol!).

Thank you for all your prayers. God is faithful and we know He continues to watch over our family. ...Have a very blessed weekend, everyone!

------------------------------------------------------------------

"Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you."

Nehemiah 9:5b-6

------------------------------------------------------------------

PRAISE THE LORD ALL THE EARTH!